Three years of consultation, 55,000 pages of evidence, more than 100 public
meetings and 33,000 replies to individuals on both sides of the nuclear
debate.

You’d think after all that, Britain might know whether it was about to see the construction of the first new nuclear power station for a generation. Think again. Planning permission for EDF Energy’s £14bn Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset clears the last big regulatory hurdle. But a trickier obstacle remains.

No shovel can turn until the state-backed French energy group cuts a deal with the Government over the price consumers will pay for the electricity the plant generates. The stakes are indeed high. On the talks between the two sides turns not only 25,000 construction jobs – plus 900 full-time during the plant’s 60-year lifetime - at Hinkley Point, but the fate of Britain’s nuclear industry.

Negotiations over what is known as the “strike price” have, in the parlance, gone critical. Naturally, neither side will show its hand. But EDF is thought to be holding out for a 40-year deal that guarantees it £95-£100 for each megawatt hour (MWh) generated – getting on for twice the current market price for electricity. The Government offered £80/MWh, though is said to have budged that up a bit since.

The deadlock helps explain the sober reaction from Energy Secretary Ed Davey to Tuesday’s planning consent – the first under the 2008 Planning Act, designed to speed up big infrastructure projects. He simply called it a “major milestone”.

EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz sounded more circumspect still, warning that “to make this opportunity a reality we need to reach agreement swiftly”. In a note to staff, he said: “I told you in my last communication that those negotiations were challenging. They remain so. I believe though that an agreement is still possible. But it will only be possible if we stick to our financial discipline.”

Tony Lodge, a research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, says: “They were always going to get planning permission. The crucial thing is the strike price. Any agreement will have a massive global impact because we are the only country where people think expanding nuclear is a good idea. Every nuclear business is looking to Britain because they think it’s a market ripe for entry.”

Grappling with the triple demands of keeping the lights on, hitting carbon emission targets and making energy affordable, the Government set out its stall to generate 16 gigawatts of new nuclear power by 2025. New plants would largely replace the current 16 reactors that generate 19pc of Britain’s electricity. All but one of which – Sizewell B in Suffolk – is due to close by 2023, although the life of some may be extended.

MPs on the Energy Select Committee have already been told the plan is “ambitious at best and unrealistic at worst” after a series of setbacks. Originally, EDF and its 20pc junior partner Centrica signed up to build two plants at Hinkley Point and Sizewell, while RWE and E.ON lined up for two at Wylfa on Anglesey and Oldbury near Bristol. SSE and Iberdrola agreed to build one in Cumbria with GDF Suez.

But the cost of building new plants rocketed after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, while cost overruns at EDF’s new Flamanville plant in France made investors increasingly nervous – not least with shale gas emerging as an alternative energy source. Centrica pulled out in February, writing off £200m. It followed RWE and E.ON in ducking out of new UK nuclear – though Japan’s Hitachi took their place, pledging to invest £20bn. SSE had long pulled out, too.

The Government’s approach to funding new nuclear plants increased complexities. Rather than use its balance sheet and access to cheap debt to build the plants and regulate the returns, it has stuck to its mantra of no upfront subsidies for nuclear – even if the consumer might ultimately pay through the nose for its stance.

The upshot is that any company faced with a £14bn bill for building a new plant, and no return until well into the 2020s, needs a different sort of subsidy – on the price it gets paid many decades out.

“A fair deal for investors means a fair return commensurate with the risks they are taking,” insisted de Rivaz yesterday in his message to staff, acknowledging any deal also needs “clearance from the EU”.

There is one more hurdle: EDF must get other investors on board to replace Centrica and, possibly, cut its own stake to as little as 51pc. But as de Rivaz pointed out: “If we have a deal with Government which is attractive to investors, we will secure the funding.”

Indeed, planning permission has just brought the brinkmanship to a head. On one side, a Government facing the collapse of its nuclear policy, on the other a company ready to deal. “I think the Government will settle and a lot of people will say how can you settle on those figures,” says Lodge.